FRISCO, Texas – The Chicago Fire Reserves topped FC Dallas Reserves 5-0 Tuesday morning at the Toyota Park Practice Field in Bridgeview, Ill.
The loss was the first of the season for FC Dallas Reserves, who return to action against Real Salt Lake Reserves on Friday, Aug. 5. The beginning of today’s match did not reflect the final score line as FC Dallas controlled much of the first 15 minutes of play.
FC Dallas nearly went up 1-0 in the seventh minute when a great individual effort saw striker Ruben Luna break into the box up the left, firing a low rocket across goal, missing Jon Conway’s post by mere inches.
The Fire regained possession as the half wore on and found the back of the net in the 25th minute when central midfielder Daniel Paladini played a pinpoint ball over the top, finding the head of winger Gabriel Ferrari. The former Sampdoria striker flicked his header into the path of Nazarit, who walked into the box alone and belted a shot past the onrushing Chris Seitz to put the Fire up 1-0.
FC Dallas nearly pulled level in the 41st minute when defender Andrew Wiedeman found the ball at his feet at the top right corner of the box. The University of California product powered a hooking shot towards the top right of the goal, but Conway rose to knock the ball out for a corner kick.
The Fire found their second goal of the match against the run of play when Orr Barouch muscled his way into the box, where he was fouled by Dallas defender Abdoulaye Faly. The referee pointed immediately to the spot and Barouch finished what he started, burying his penalty kick low and to the right of Seitz to put the Fire up 2-0 going into the break.
The Fire upped the lead to 3-0 in the 58th minute when Barouch flicked a beautiful header into the path of Nazarit, who walked in alone on Seitz again and buried the ball low past the Dallas goalkeeper.
Coming up the right flank in the 70th minute, Bratislav Ristic centered a low cross which Seitz could not control before Nazarit authoritatively finished the rebound from inside the six-yard box to complete his hat trick and put the Fire ahead 4-0.
The one-way second half traffic helped the Fire find the final goal of the match when Pari Pantazopoulos combined with Barouch down the left side before his cross from just outside the 18 found the Israeli-born striker, who headed his effort down across goal where it eventually bounced over the line in the 86th minute.
With the result, the Fire Reserves move to 3-0-1 (10 points) and sit atop the MLS Reserve League’s Central/Mountain Division. With the loss, the FC Dallas Reserves taste defeat for the first time in 2011, moving to 3-1-0 (9 points) where they remain tied for second with the Houston Dynamo.
Chicago Fire Reserves: Jon Conway; Bratislav Ristic, Dasan Robinson, Josip Mikulic, Pari Pantazopoulos; Gabriel Ferrari (Lyle Martin* 46’), Daniel Paladini (Martin Rivas* 73’), Mike Videira (Brady Wahl* 79’), Corben Bone (Dado Hamzagic* 73’), Cristian Nazarit (Peter Beasley 82’), Orr Barouch
Substitutes not used: Alec Dufty, Victor Pineda,
FC Dallas Reserves: Chris Seitz; Abdoulaye Faly, Jack Coleman* (Forman Andres 62’), Andrew Wiedeman, Moises Hernandez; Bruno Guarda, Bobby Warshaw, Victor Ulloa, Peri Marosevic (Shahdon Winchester* 46’); Bryan Leyva (Okwono Boyd 79’), Ruben Luna.
Substitutes Not Used:Josh Lambo, Jonathan Top
Academy Players, *Trialist
Scoring Summary:
CHI – Cristian Nazarit (Gabriel Ferrari, Daniel Paladini) 25’
CHI – Orr Barouch (penalty kick) 45’+
CHI – Cristian Nazarit (Orr Barouch) 58’
CHI – Cristian Nazarit (unassisted) 75’
CHI – Orr Barouch (Pari Pantazopoulos) 86’
Misconduct Summary:
DAL – Ruben Luna (caution) 24’
CHI – Dasan Robinson (caution) 24’
CHI – Daniel Paladini (caution) 32’
DAL – Andrew Wiedeman (caution) 36’
DAL – Abdoulaye Faly (caution) 45’+
DAL – Bruno Guarda (caution) 52’
CHI – Lyle Martin (caution) 53’